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The one thing about the Maple Leafs in the good old days — as in December — was that opponents always worried about Toronto’s speed.

It was a theme repeated by visiting coach after visiting coach, that the Leafs — for all their foibles — were fast and you didn’t want to get into a track meet against them.

That Leaf speed started to go missing at Christmas, when road trips and injuries started to wear them down, and it vanished altogether when Peter Horachek instilled a system designed to get his best players to play deeper in their own zone.

That speed reappeared on Thursday night and, paired with a magnificent 47-save performance by Jonathan Bernier, the Maple Leafs skated off with a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. It was their second win in a row, a feat not accomplished since December.

“We’ll take the win, but there’s lots of room for improvement,” said captain Dion Phaneuf, who returned after missing 12 games with a hand injury. “I think everyone in the room knows that (Bernier) stole us a game. He was outstanding from start to finish.”

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Phil Kessel scored his 23rd, blowing past Philadelphia defender Nicklas Grossman in the first period. Tyler Bozak added his 17th, set free on a breakaway by James van Riemsdyk. Phaneuf one-timed a power-play goal in the third.

Power-play goals by Philadelphia late in the third — by Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn — made for an uncomfortable finish. But Bernier stole the show, facing a season-high 49 shots.

“I’m just trying to do my job here,” said Bernier. “Even in my bad stretch I’m just trying to go shot by shot and not really focusing on the end result. We got fortunate I got a few bounces ― good blocks, good stick and a couple big saves and we found a way to win.”

The Leafs welcomed Zach Sill, acquired from Pittsburgh for Daniel Winnik, while bidding adieu to David Clarkson, traded 75 minutes before the game to Columbus for injured Nathan Horton in a deal that will help the Leafs from a salary-cap position.

“Any time you lose a teammate, it’s difficult,” said Phaneuf. “Right before the game to find out that deal went through, it’s tough, but I thought we started very well. Our focus was there. We were focused.”

Now, maybe all the speed came from having four days off. Heck, it had been so long since they last played that 17 Leafs showed up for an optional morning skate — unheard of.

The game had all the earmarks of the style the Leafs played for two-plus years under Randy Carlyle — get outshot and outplayed badly, but win — when they flirted with the idea of being a serious playoff contender. Rope-a-dope, some called it, but it was deemed unsustainable — the high shooting percentage and save percentage couldn’t possibly hold up, critics said.

But it may well be the only brand this team can play with any modicum of success. Most teams seemed to have copied the possession game employed with great success by Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles: a lot of cycling, a lot of forechecking. All driven by the possession numbers that have found new believers in NHL front offices. But even if all 30 teams played the same way, only one will win it all, and 14 will miss the playoffs. And not everyone has the right horses to play that brand. So a few teams experimenting to break the possession game, the way the neutral zone trap in the 1990s beat the run-and-gun game of the 1980s, may not be a bad thing.

Anyway, it seemed to entertain the announced 18,000-plus in attendance, who cheered the win and the exit of unruly Flyers fans, saved their jeers for the referees and kept their jerseys on.

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